Evaluation of wind energy potential and estimation of cost using wind energy turbines for electricity generation in north of Algeria

A technical and economic assessment has been made for the generation of electricity using wind turbines at six sites of the north of Algeria. The annual mean wind speed of the six stations (Oran, Setif, Skikda, Tlemcen, Tiaret, and Miliana) was obtained as 4.20, 3.46, 3.18, 2.64, 5.07, and 2.91 m/s at 10 m height, respectively. We used wind data recorded over 10 years for those sites. The Weibull parameters (k) and the power law coefficient (c) for all months at different heights (30-50-70 m) were obtained by extrapolation of the 10 m data at all sites. The WAsP program was used and three commercial wind turbines namely AN Bonus 300 kW/33, AN Bonus 1.0 MW/54 and Vestas V80/2 MW were technically assessed for electricity generation in the six selected sites by computing their capacity factors, annual power and energy outputs. The economic evaluation was also estimated using the present value cost method (PVC). The results showed that the mean monthly value of Weibull shape parameter k is between 1.02 at Tlemcen site and 2.06 at Oran site while the monthly value of scale parameter c is between 2.2 m/s at Tlemcen site and 9.2 m/s at Tiaret site. In addition, the capacity factors of the three turbines in the selected sites are ranged between 5.40% and 33.16%. The average minimum cost per kW h was obtained in Tiaret as US$0.0342/kW h with Vestas V80/2 MW while the highest average cost is US$0.2105/kW h with AN Bonus 1.0 MW/54 in Tlemcen. The highest cost in each location was obtained with the medium Wind energy turbine (AN Bonus 1.0 MW/54). In addition, Tiaret and Oran were also found to be very economical for any of the adopted wind turbine models. Miliana, Skikda and Tlemcen were found to be more profitable for non-connected electrical and mechanical applications (water pumping, battery charging) than a diesel generator as they exhibit higher cost than US$0.10/kW h.